Emily's Belated Birthday

Well, late again.... since Emily's birthday was almost a week ago!

I really can't believe that I live with an offical 2 year old. Emily amazes me with all of the things she's learning and doing. And it's not like I'm a new Mom -- I've been through this all before. I guess that it's just that Emily acts so advanced for her age that I've thought of her as "two" for quite some time. But, even so, the fact that there are no babies in our house anymore is hitting me hard.

She is such a big girl!

I love Chris' look of amazement in this picture! I can't even remember what she opened that got this reaction, either!

Waiting patiently for her Blue's Clues cake.

Yummy.

Boo!

Emily's into hiding these days. She is great at it too. She sits as still as a statue for minutes at a time. Pretty incredible for a little one who's not quite 2!

The other day, we were leaving the bathroom and she said to me,

"Mom, I hide."

I just did my usual, "Oh, yeah? OK," not really paying close attention.

Well, a minute later I realized that she wasn't in the living room with us. So I went back into the bathroom to look for her and this is what I saw.

Here's a closer look.

And then we said "BOO!"

Guitar Love

I am SOOOOO frustrated at Blogger right now. I had 2 more pictures that I'd scanned to show you all, but they won't post to the blog. Just ignore the screaming and continue on. I'll be okay, I didn't need that chunk of hair anyhow.

I've been meaning to post these pictures for a couple of weeks now.

Chris has a long running love of music, with guitars being the primary instrument (pun intended!) of his music making. He got his first guitar from his Grandma when he was only 1 year old. It was an old plastic one, perfect for a baby to abuse. It sounded like some sort of Chinese musical instrument, so great was the "twang" factor! Well, he played that thing to death. He also had amazing technique for a baby - strumming with basically correct form and moving his fingers over the frets to make "chords".

For Christmas 2003 we gave him a brand new "real" guitar. He was 22 months old and I'd say it's been his most precious item that's he's owned. Like any kid, his interests change according to his moods, but the guitar is one thing that has been a constant love in his life.

When we ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, he usually says "A Rockstar". Cute, huh? So after much suggesting and begging and mentioning and asking and reminding and nagging, he convinced us that he needed an electric guitar for Christmas. Remember?

Well, Emily has been inspired. Since we now have enough guitars to go around, she's picking up on the rockstar vibe. She doesn't have the natural talent that Chris has, (she "picks" at the strings rather than strum.) but she's right there picking and singing with the best of them!

So, if you can see in the above picture, the acoustic (brown) guitar is totally beat up. This is the one that Chris got just before he turned 2. He has played the life out of it. See the scratches near Emily's left hand? Those are from Chris' pick and his fingers - he's actually drawn blood from playing so hard. Also, the body has split open along the bottom edge.

We decided that we'd use some of Chris' birthday money and go get ANOTHER guitar. So we trooped off to Walmart. Look what Chris picked out. Oh dear.

It took all the strength I had to let him buy this thing. Oh well, he's the one who has to live with it. Wait a minute..... so do I. : ) Maybe I should save this picture for when he's a ROCKSTAR and use it as blackmail!